If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Iowa

Anybody else be hunting Iowa for deer this year? No western tags for me, so good thing I burned my points for a nonresident zone 5 archery tag. Scouted public land 4 days in February and got my spots lined up and GPSed. The 6"-10" rubs in my area look more like they were made by elk.

What part of Iowa, Zim? My farms are south of the state line by about 75 miles, near Chillicothe, MO, and we've had a bunch of our big deer dying off due to EHD. I've heard of several reports up in the NE portion of the state as well.. Between the drought killing all our food plots and the deer, we are shaping up to have a below average year. Hopefully your portion of IA isn't as bad.

I drew a very limited hunt in a state park about 10 minutes from my house, and have heard multiple reports of good deer dying off as well.

I will be hunting in the vicinity of Centerville. That EHD is extremely localized from one spot to the next depending on stagnant water, etc. I don't expect to find out about our area until we hunted it a while. We got hammered here at some of our Chicago area forest preserves, yet I scouted a state parcel I drew and found zero dead deer. You just never know.

I have 200 acres in west central illinois and EHD has been extreme in my area. I checked 2 deer stands a few weeks ago and counted 7 dead deer, two of which were 130 inch class bucks. That was only on about 80 acres. My sister found another 3 laying dead next to the road, which happens to run parallel to a creek. Wouldn't doubt that we have lost 40% of the herd in my area.